["𝚆𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚠𝚎 𝚑𝚘𝚕𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚘𝚗𝚝𝚘?" -𝙵𝚛𝚘𝚍𝚘 𝚏𝚛𝚘𝚖 𝙻𝙾𝚃𝚁]

"Hi! Um, could you fix something for me?" The girl asks.

"Hm," I think. 

The work 'trouble' repeats in my head as I force myself to say,"What would you like me to fix? I'm a mechanic."

"O-Oh! I know. I actually would like you to fix two things if that's okay?" She answer.

"Go on," I mutter.

"A-A guitar and a music box," She replies.

"I don't fix guitars, but the music box is another thing I could fix," I state.

"P-Please? I-I would really appreciate if you could fix my guitar!" She persuades.

"I said I don't fix guitars. Not just that I don't. I can't fix guitars," I declare slowly.

She shoves me her guitar bag and pleads,"Would you please try? I mean, it is an electric guitar! Y-You said your a mechanic, right? Please j-just take a look!"

I stare at the black guitar bag in my hands thoughtfully. 

"Urg, uhm. Well... I-I'll take a look..." I answer.

Her eyes widen and she smiles,"Thank you!"

I zip open her guitar bag and take the guitar out. My eyes widen in surprise.

"Th-" I stare at the girl,"I-I... I can't. I'm sorry! I'm not experienced in painting a-and I dunno how I'd even fix the wood. How'd it even get like this?"

"Oh... Well, when I was walking outta the car from school with it I hadn't seen the car and my mom was able to push me outta the way... b-but I dropped the guitar and the car crushed it." She replies solemnly,"P-Plus, the guitar is from my grandma who I was really close to! She died a few years ago and this music box and guitar is the only thing I have left of her!"

"Oh..." I utter in surprise,"I-I'm sorry to hear that. My mother died when I was five so I understand. She gave me these headphones before she passed away... My dad says that when people die... they aren't really gone. They are still with you. You just don't know it. Like Gandalf said from The Lord Of The Rings! 

"Death is just another path, one that we must all take."

The girl's eyes widen and a tear falls down her face before she sniffles, looks away, and wipes at her face.

"I'll fix your guitar and music box," I announce and she shoots her head to look at me,"but the deal is that you must help me every afternoon."

"R-Really? You'd do that for me?" She asks, giddy as her face lights up.

I rub the back of my neck sheepishly and shrug, "Just remember the deal."

"Right! Also, my name's Jiro. Jiro Kyoka!" She points her thumb at herself and grins.

"Nice to meet you Jiro. Just call me L/n!" I answer.

"L/n," She repeats,"That's a pretty name!" 

"Th-Thank you!" I blush and set the guitar back into the bag before zipping it back up.

Jiro hands me her music box and notices my bandaged hands.

"What happened there?" She asks and points at my hands.

"Sadly, I'm a human and that means having the quirks of being a human. Which means having pain receptors, health, and feelings. I use my hands a lot so I end up always hurting them in some way. They bleed too much and since I don't have time to clean up the blood I just stick bandages on because it'll clean it up faster."

Jiro blinks for a moment as if processing everything I had said,"Well, being a human isn't that bad and you should care more about your health L/n!"

I laugh,"I guess. Caring about health gets in the way though."

Jiro gives me a doubtful look and crosses her arms over her chest,"I don't see it that way!"

"To agree to disagree," I say, arching an eyebrow.

"To agree to disagree," Jiro nods and turns around,"Well I should get going. I-I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Right!" I give her a thumbs-up and my biggest smile before whispering,"Thank you for curing my loneliness!"

"Huh?" She asks.

"Um, what? N-Nothing!" I wave my hands as a blush appears on my face.

"Okay... Well, see you!" She waves and walks out of my dad's shop.

Sighing, I stare at the guitar bag and music box in my hand before walking towards my workshop. I set the music box on my desk next to the laptop and the guitar in the corner next to some other computer pieces.

I sit down at my desk and look at the clock on my phone.

"5:40..." I mumble.

Shop closes up at 6pm. Which means I have about twenty minutes before I close up.

"I should start gather my stuff," I say as I stand up and grab my jacket from behind the chair.

I walk out to the front when I see a lady with her two kids. She smiles and waves.

"Oh!" I smile back,"Jessica, right?"

"Yes!" One of her kids, a girl, answers for her.

Jessica gives her child a frown and looks back at me and nods.

"Okay! I'll go grab your clock right now!" I answer and make my way to the workshop while putting on my jacket.

I grab the clock from the shelf and walk back to the front.

"Here you go!" I beam and hand her the clock.

"Thank you so much!" She replies.

"Anytime!" I bow and give her my widest closed eye smile.

Jessica smiles sadly as she looks at the clock and ruffles my hair,"Continue to smile. Don't let anything ruin the smile of yours."

I give her a confused look before bowing again and yelling,"Y-Yes ma'am!"

She laughs and opens the door for her kids.

"Come back soon!" I wave as they leave.

I make sure my headphones and phone is in my pocket before I walk out and shut the door behind me. I turn around and pick the keys out of my pocket before sliding the key in and turning it to lock the shop.

I walk down the sidewalk in the dark.

"It gets quite dark pretty early now since it's winter..." I mutter and look at the dark sky.

I shiver as a cold wind sweeps past me. Because of the cold I run home.

I huff as I open the front door and close it behind me.

"I'm home dad!" I yell and take off my jacket.

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Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed! 1076 words!

-Amora